The Tri-Town Ambulance service is requesting a 60 per cent increase for their budget next year due to a new state mandate that requires full-time paramedics for the service.

If all three towns — Chilmark, West Tisbury and Aquinnah — approve the hike, the cost of the service will go up $275,420, from an operating budget of $452,995 to one of $728,415.

Chilmark police chief Brian Cioffi presented the Tri-Town budget to the Chilmark selectmen at their weekly meeting on Tuesday night and explained the bulk of the increase will come from four new positions, two at 40-hours a week and two at 30-hours a week, totaling $148,864.

“It’s the kind of thing that makes you sit up straight and say, ‘Whoa, what happened there?’” selectman and board chair Warren Doty said of the increase. “It’s a very important change.”

“There are higher standards we set with the paramedic level that eventually increase staff to maintain 24/7 coverage so we can maintain a certification level,” Mr. Cioffi said. “We tried to bring it up to what’s realistic ... Everything is increasing, the staffing, number of runs, and the level of service we’re providing. It’s really no longer a volunteer service.”

Under the law signed by Gov. Patrick in July 2010, ambulance services must have a paramedic staff on hand at all times in order to keep their paramedic certification.

“We’ll need to understand it really clearly,” selectman Frank Fenner said. “Voters need to get a really clear explanation of this, because this is huge. We all knew it was coming, but it’s staggering when it starts to hit.”

The service faced fiscal scrutiny recently after having to request an additional $9,000 from the up-Island towns, forcing the three towns to return to voters for additional funds. Tri-Town had to contract out the job to Oak Bluffs paramedics in order to keep their paramedic certification last year. The fate of the ambulance service became more uncertain when former Tri-Town chief Robert Bellinger announced he was stepping down in early December after seven months on the job.

But even without an additional four personnel (a $226,018 increase overall), the service has a $49,402 increase over last year due to increased stipends, cost of living allowance, worker’s compensation, step increases and increased medical supply costs.

“What you’re looking at is not what we want, it’s what we’re being told we have to provide by the state,” Mr. Cioffi said. “24/7 coverage is necessary to have a paramedic license. We’re still working on the minimal we can get going in order to maintain coverage We’re not hoping someone will pick up at 3 a.m., but someone will have to because they’re on duty.”

There could be an alternative to the high price tag towns will be asked to approve in the next few months. Mr. Fenner suggested contracting out the full-time paramedic positions again, something Mr. Cioffi seemed open to but insisted on maintaining a paramedic service due to the distance of the up-Island towns to the hospital.

“I think it could be a good solution to the paramedic issue,” Mr. Cioffi said. “It really comes down to, and it’s very simple, if we’re going to maintain paramedics we have to stay with what the state is telling us. Or, if we can’t afford it, go back to being just EMTs [emergency medical technicians].”

In the absence of a chief of the Tri-Town service, Mr. Cioffi and Aquinnah police chief Randhi Belain will present the budget to the Chilmark financial advisory committee Feb. 2.

“From my chair I don’t have confidence that the fiscal management has been great; we have evidence of that with last-minute bills,” Mr. Doty said. “When you come in with a big proposal for a lot of money and say it’s because we have a choice of EMTs or paramedics, well maybe we have a choice of better fiscal management also. Looking at the finances and when bills arrive, it doesn’t always seem to be tight management.”

“We put a plan together last year and it didn’t work,” Mr. Cioffi said.

Other budgetary highlights for next year include a $12,000 increase for the fire chief’s salary, a $20,519 decrease from the beach committee for lifeguards and the deletion of the assistant beach superintendent position, and a relatively flat assessment for the school districts.

In other news, the selectmen signed a contract with C. White Marine to begin work on the connecting pier that was destroyed in the July 12 fire. Work will begin in the next 10 days and is slated for completion by May 15.